Pressure on Paris mounts over Loi Evin

Date: 08/06/2000

By Peter Chapman

SINGLE Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein is stepping up pressure on Paris to settle a five-year-old dispute over French rules governing televised alcohol advertisements.

Bolkestein held talks with Culture Minister Catherine Tasca this week to discuss the issue, after warning he would not drop the case against the Loi Evin without significant concessions from Paris.

Industry claims the law clearly breaches EU single market rules because it has been used to stop foreign firms from broadcasting sports events which feature pitchside alcohol adverts outside France. Critics argue that the legislation must be amended to ensure this cannot happen again.

Commission sources say Bolkestein is not demanding formal changes to the legislation, but instead wants Paris to tighten up a related code of conduct to ensure foreign firms are insulated from its effects.

The code was developed principally to allow French television channels to broadcast key sports events such as European Champions League soccer and the Rugby World Cup which carry pitchside alcohol adverts, but it also provides similar safeguards for foreign firms. Before the code was introduced, drinks firms were often asked to remove adverts so sports organisers could sell lucrative television rights in France without risking prosecution for breaching the terms of the Loi Evin.

Drinks and TV companies hit by the law complain that it is not possible to correct problems with legislation by strengthening a code of conduct which is not legally binding. But a Commission source said the institution's hands were tied. "The whole infringement procedure in this case is aimed at the code of conduct. If people now want a more broader scope that is fine, but we must start again," he said.

Single Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein is stepping up pressure on Paris to settle a five-year-old dispute over French rules governing televised alcohol advertisements.